iPhone 3G S supports OpenGL ES 2.0, but 3G only supports 1.1 -- will the App Store splinter?

When we were breaking down the meaty differences between the old-school 3G and the 3G S yesterday, we made an assumption about support for OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics APIs in the original iPhone 3G based on the fact that it had been available in the iPhone OS 3.0 SDK for several betas. Turns out, though, that the graphics processor in the 3G S -- the PowerVR SGX -- supports hardware acceleration of both OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0 while the more pedestrian PowerVR MBX found in the iPhone 3G supports 1.1 alone.

What does this mean to you? OpenGL ES is the lightweight version of OpenGL, a powerful library of real-time 3D rendering APIs; many modern phones and other handheld devices support the older 1.1 specification, but 2.0 is less common -- it kicks things up a notch by supporting more complex textures and shading operations, which basically means games written to support it look more badass. Here's the problem, though: because OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0 are completely incompatible with each other, apps need to be written to support both if they're going to be maximally compatible. A 2.0-only app can't simply run on a 1.1-only device and not look as good -- it won't work at all.

Here's where it gets interesting. The App Store has already splintered a bit with certain applications being unavailable to iPod Touch users (dialers, for example), but language in Apple's iPhone SDK documentation leads us to believe that the company eventually intends to begin allowing it to splinter even among iPhone models, maybe as soon as the 3G S is released. That is, they'll allow apps that are only compatible with the 3G S because they're written to take advantage of OpenGL ES 2.0 and don't offer a 1.1 fallback:

"When designing your OpenGL ES application, the first question you must answer is whether your application will support OpenGL ES 1.1, OpenGL ES 2.0, or both... Your application should target OpenGL ES 1.1 if you want to support all iPhones and iPod touches."

Realistically, it was bound to happen; platform aside, hardware is always improving, and it's paralyzingly difficult to require that all apps be compatible with all of a platform's devices regardless of age -- particularly when it comes to gaming. We imagine this'll be an issue with apps taking advantage of the 3G S' other specific features like the magnetic compass and video recording support, too. Question is, what'll be that must-have game (or compass, we suppose) that spurs stubborn 3G owners into shelling out a few hundred bucks they didn't intend to?

[GB @ Jun 10th 2009 5:11AM]

...LAST IN LIFE!!

[ImPulsE @ Jun 10th 2009 5:11AM]

Another way to drain your battery, but faster this time :)

[barracuda @ Jun 10th 2009 8:43AM]

More like...
What kind of iphone are you?
The one for poor people, that every body has? .. or the deluxe one... with cool graphics and fancy new stuff?

[rony @ Jun 10th 2009 9:14AM]

bah...I wouldnt care about battery life if it managed to run Crysis.....thought for a second it somehow could from that picture...pffft!

[coolant8 @ Jun 10th 2009 1:07PM]

You hear that, iPhone 3G users? your outdated.

[LordFarkward @ Jun 10th 2009 5:24AM]

My outdated what?

[Dexter. @ Jun 10th 2009 5:24AM]

Haha, you couldn't be more right coolant8.

I got married earlier this year, so trying to sell an update that I'm not convinced about to my not-very-tech-savvy wife would be tough indeed. Was it just me that thought the announcements for the new iPhone were firmly rooted in 'evolution' and not 'revolution'?

Snooze.

[TimmyRaa @ Jun 10th 2009 5:30AM]

@ Dexter.

Go away. You either do not belong with us, or you lie.

Pfff, married.

[braden_blyde @ Jun 10th 2009 5:54AM]

LordFarkward: I applaud your grammatical correctness and subtle humour. The internet needs more people like you.

[Phil Perman @ Jun 10th 2009 6:04AM]

@ Dexter

Sounds like your wife is outdated, should upgrade her to a newer model who will accept upgrades, although I hear buying out the contract is hella expensive...

[darkmax @ Jun 10th 2009 6:33AM]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... comical! Yes the contract buyout will be worse than the profit you were hoping to gain. LOL

@LordFarkward

He needs to be in grammar school all over again.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Jun 10th 2009 10:44AM]

Guess this makes my first-gen iPhone completely worthless, huh. I should turn in my Starbucks Gold card in shame. All of my friends will shun me for not having the latest image-enhancing toy. It is a dark day indeed in your imaginary world.

[SoulinEther @ Jun 10th 2009 5:15AM]

I agree. Considering the regular releases of new iPhone/ipt models, this was bound to happen, especially considering how apple has upped the processing power on the latest iphone...new programs will prolly be designed to take advantage of the new specs (aside from which opengl version it uses)

It could be a ploy to get people to pick up a new iphone with a high price tag... or abandon the Apple culture forever and begin the slow (but transparent!) open source revolution!

...

[Gnormie @ Jun 10th 2009 5:26AM]

It have to be a huge upgrade to tempt users to pay the costs for upgrading. In the UK it costs almost £400 upfront to get the new 3GS if you bought the 3G around launch (to pay off your existing contract + start a new one basically).

[Robert @ Jun 10th 2009 5:16AM]

Of course not. Apply is focussed on User Centred Design. This means they will take the user into account at any given moment. If that user is browsing the app store with a 3G, my guess is that 3GS apps will simpely not show up.

Just like some apps are not available in some regions. (last.fm is not available in Belgium for example: it doesn't show up in the app store when you search for it.)

[Premature ejaculation man @ Jun 10th 2009 5:21AM]

If its anything like the 1g iPod touch (which doesn't have a microphone etc), you just can't buy those things. Greyed out.

[tomas @ Jun 10th 2009 9:22AM]

With the 1G iPod Touch, you can see the apps, then when you go to install, it gives you an error saying your device is not supported. I learned this because apparently coupon sherpa has some reliance on a speaker.

[Chad @ Jun 10th 2009 9:45AM]

What will Pre owners see when they browse the app store?

[squeeg @ Jun 10th 2009 10:37AM]

@chad

Blank space... Or maybe a deck of cards... LOL @ cards system...

[tsj5j @ Jun 10th 2009 5:16AM]

Here's an answer: no one.

By the time a company with sufficient budget publishes a game with enough hype to move over, a year in development/marketing would have passed. If not more.
By than, the newer models would be out -- iPhone 3G SS? - or rumored to be coming out and everyone will be delaying their purchase to wait for the new model.
I think Apple is pretty clear of this themselves, and the fact that the new model has such a disgustingly mundane name (S? Seriously?) is a clear indication.

Like what Microsoft did with Vista, they probably want developers to make some new kick-ass games supporting the new graphics before launching an uber-hyped model with these (newly-developed) games to showcase its features and attract buyers.

[Mark Anderson @ Jun 10th 2009 5:40AM]

Bing! Bing!

We have a winner.

Spot on assessment.

[Beastage @ Jun 10th 2009 6:03AM]

3G "SS" ... seems fitting for Apple product.

[Steveorevo @ Jun 10th 2009 9:25AM]

LOL, no one? budget? ... yeah, ever heard of EA, id Software, Paramount, Konami, Namco, and Sega (ok, Sega is poor)... but last I checked even Namco's Katamari is all about polygon counts.

Have you ever even seen the App Store?

steewwwpid

[tsj5j @ Jun 10th 2009 9:31AM]

@Steveorevo

I stand correct. Mindless fanboys like you will indeed make the purchase.
I doubt you even read my full comment.

I never said those developers won't develop for it - they will - but making a good game takes TIME.
The article has mentioned that making games for the new graphics requires a complete rewrite - TIME.
Polished games need good marketing (big budget/expense = cannot fail), which takes TIME.

Add up all that TIME, and it'll take more than a year for most polished games.
By which time, there'll be a new iDevice that Apple can hype up with the use of these games.

[Massmass @ Jun 10th 2009 3:03PM]

Yes, because all iPhone/handheld games are EPIC.

Handheld and cellphone platforms DON'T take much TIME to develop for. Having a slightly better graphics API isn't going to be like they're suddenly developing on a CELL.

3-6 months is the more average development time for most games handheld/cellphone. 1-2 years is reserved for the few that actually have depth.

It isn't hard to model because detail isn't king here, direction is. The programming languages are easy and well understood. So again, TIME isn't wasted much in these situations.

[MeisterDon @ Jun 11th 2009 1:20AM]

IPhone 3G SS (Super Speed?)

[d889 @ Jun 11th 2009 1:26AM]

the answer is simple actually ... you will get 2 versions of the game, one for the normal iphone and one for the S ... and of course since the S has 'better graphics' and is 'faster' you will pay more for that version of the app.

[darionco @ Jun 16th 2009 10:16AM]

I couldn't agree more.

As a developer I can tell that actually the development time for OpenGL ES 2.0 (at least the first time around) is rater long, it ONLY supports shaders, meaning that even to display a simple square on the screen you have to write a shader, that would be really simple though. But as you said that takes TIME.

Now I don't believe good games are going to take that long to make it to the appstore but, so far, good games on the iPhone are not necessarily good looking games. You are onto something though, I strongly believe the S stands for "seed", a weird word to define a product, unless you are planting a seed and waiting for something to grow out of it? Like good looking games that you can use to revive the hype around the iPhone when the next gen comes out (iPhone 4G?, AT&T announced 4G for 2011).

@Steveorevo
Dude, the mobile market is built around "digital snacks". You buy it for cheap, you "consume" it for a short period, you are satisfied for a while, you move to the next "snack", probably to never look back.

Said that, you should understand that even big developers are not interested (yet?) in investing the resources and time that it takes to create AAA not even AA titles on the iPhone, you may want to argue that the games EA (per say) is releasing are at least AA, well they might be (they are not), but if you knew how to program a "Hello World" or even speak tech you should be able to tell that EA is not throwing the big bucks on those games.

I know it's always nice to believe that the almighty big corporations have all under control and that they just care about us, the consumers. But reality is that they only care about profit, and to make profit out of a "digital snack" which lifespan and price are going to be relatively short, they need to cut costs in every single way they can, and that's what they are doing.

In short, i think apple has a plan that, not to my surprise, they are keeping secret. They are sending some hints to start the hype, but they are going to maintain that hype at moderate levels until the official announcement unveiling the plans comes and the press takes care of starting an immoderate hype that is going to drag hordes of consumers to the nearest apple store. Apple is becoming a master on that!

darionco

[Boards of Canada @ Jun 10th 2009 5:25AM]

The problem with Iphone games is not the graphic but the lack of physical buttons. However I start to feel outdated with my Ipod Video 5g.

[alloneword @ Jun 10th 2009 5:33AM]

Short answer, Yes.

Game developers will want to use the update power of the 3GS, and these applications wont be able to run on the 3G. This is the start of the Ovi store, which Apple said was confusing because they have many phone types, and not all applications work on all phones.

Well, any phone the relies on 'Proper' GPS wont work on a 2G. Any phone that uses the comppas or has heavy 3D graphics wont work on the 3G. And any future application that relies on what is in the 4th generation iPhone wont work on the previous models.

It is the Mac OSX machine in your pocket, and just like the ones our desks, they get out dated, and require a hardware refresh to support new and exciting features.

[Mark Anderson @ Jun 10th 2009 5:42AM]

Does this mean we'll get fewer disingenuous statements like "20 million iPhones sold" when, in fact, that's a composite figure for two clearly different models?

Perhaps so.

[superhobo @ Jun 10th 2009 6:53AM]

A Mac OSX machine? On my desk? It's not as likely as you think.

[tikiwk @ Jun 10th 2009 7:18AM]

Mark A,

I'd let that one go... they technically sold 20 million phones, they didn't claim to sell those to 20 million individual customers, but that was impled and everyone else has made that assumption whilst touting the figure. SO what... it's misleading and disingenuous... nothing has really changed, has it? Poseurs.

I'm just amazed at how much money all sorts of companies are investing in a platform that has such a fucking tiny user base... everyone seems to be churning out iPhone apps with the hype so inflated I'm waiting for an atomic sized implosion... and I'm not quite sure why they didn't bother as such with the Symbian or Linux or WinMo platforms. Or with desktop platforms for that matter.. hello, windows OS, OS X, Linix... billions of available consumers.

e.g. I just found out Benjamin Moore Paints has a color match app. WTF? Why is that an exclusive iphone app and why? Most architects and designers are not carrying around the iphone... What happened to the many millions of other phone OS users? Irony is that they don't even have a desktop color match app for any OS / platform. This is just out of control, in a bad way.

[Mark Anderson @ Jun 10th 2009 7:47AM]

@tikiwik

I would but the point is that of those 20 million sales a large proportion will be sales to previous customers. This will be more so when the 3GS is released (or more likely at Xmas when the contract cycle ends).

So when Apple come out with sales figures of, say, 40 million iPhones by end 2010 what they really mean is that they've sold different phones to the same 10-15 million people two or three times but they're bundling all the sales together. This is not the same as, say, Nokia selling an N73 then a N95 then a 5800 to the same customer but countering the model sales separately.

It's an old marketing trick to make something look like it's doing better than it actually is which Apple make full use of and which a lot of the press are gullible enough to fall for.

[Richy @ Jun 10th 2009 11:13AM]

@Mark Anderson

But I doubt many of those upgraded phones are just gathering dust. Most 1st gen phones will have been given to spouses, family, or eBay. I can't imagine too many people putting their fully functioning expensive iPhone in the drawer.

[trainwrecka @ Jun 10th 2009 11:32AM]

@MarkAnderson

The same 10-15 million customers? Give me a break. Everyone I know that upgraded to a 3G from the Original gave the phone to someone else (spouse, family member, friend, craigslist, ebay, etc). That means all of those ORIGINAL phones are still being used to make Apple (iTunes, App Store, switching to OSX, portion of AT&T bill that goes to Apple) & AT&T (subscribers) money.

The same will happen with the 3G to 3GS transition.

I'm sorry that the average consumer would seek out a 1st gen iPhone over the latest Blackberry, Palm, Nokia or whatever - Apple makes a solid product that stands the test of time (at least in tech-time).

[shouryuuken @ Jun 10th 2009 1:40PM]

@tikiwik: its more like 40 million users... that includes ipod touches. but the main thing im saying here is that even 20 million people is an excellent market when the device is so cheap to develop for. i mean.. there are only 30 million xbox 360s out there.. and its cheaper than some models of the iphone/ipod touch and has much better graphics. not to mention, its been out for 2 years longer than the iphone.. so yeah, more users, cheaper development costs, no price of having to ship a title or pay the esrb... why not try to make a quick buck from it?

[Lundmark @ Jun 10th 2009 5:35AM]

Thanks for a great article!

[B3astofthe3ast @ Jun 10th 2009 5:38AM]

As smartphones get closer and closer to PC's this will happen more and more, until we see min specs for each app/game. Which makes me think, wouldn't it be awesome to have a smartphone that allows you to choose your components, as well as OS? Hopefully soon...

[Steven @ Jun 10th 2009 5:54AM]

Unfortunately, we will be plagued with horrible drivers and see BSOD's left and right. =)

[Pete99 @ Jun 10th 2009 5:41AM]

Do we know what CPU this is using yet?

[alloneword @ Jun 10th 2009 5:48AM]

Aside from launching applications quicker, having applications that are designed for the new processor may run at half the speed on the old ones. This, and the graphics capabilities means the store will NEED to be splintered.

Apple shouldn't cut users off from the higher end applications, they will push them as a reason to upgrade to the latest and greatest.

[Fnuky @ Jun 10th 2009 6:37AM]

No idea, but it's a very good question.

I'd assumed it would be a clocked up version of the Samsung chip, but I am not aware of any Samsung devices that have OpenGL ES 2.0 support....

Engadget: do you know for sure it's using the PowerVR SGX GPU core, or is that a guess?

Fastish ARM CPU, plus better video encoding support and GL 2.0... it could be a Tegra or an OMAP, but I think it's too early for an in-house design.

Can't wait for the first breakdown to find out :-)

[dlewis @ Jun 10th 2009 8:58AM]

It uses the same processor that is in the Pre, the ARMv7 Cortex. Its about 600 MHz and is the best ARM processor around at the moment.

This was bound to happen at some point. As technology improves firmware updates can only take you so far. At least iTunes won't let you install it on a 3G when you need a 3Gs, or download it on the phone using the built in app store.

[The Police @ Jun 10th 2009 7:31PM]

The Samsung Omnia HD supports opengl ES 2.0. Its running on the OMAP 3 platform and has a PowerVR SGX chip, with 256 mb of system ram

[ben murray @ Jun 10th 2009 5:57AM]

Here's what the iphone needs - an adaptor that clicks on front and back nd connects via dock to goive an analogue stick, action buttons and shoulder buttons - sort of like a nes controller

If this is developed by apple or with apple and some of the major game makers it would be brilliant and make the iphone a must have gaming device

off topic?

Probably. Just had to say it.

[M. @ Jun 10th 2009 10:24AM]

apparently Belkin is working on something like that:
http://toucharcade.com/2008/08/30/belkin-joypod-iphone-gaming-controller-with-app-store-support/

They denied it, so it's coming...

[The_WB @ Jun 10th 2009 5:57AM]

Called "Forced hardware upgrade"!

[Mizzike @ Jun 10th 2009 6:13AM]

Is it me or are iphone and iphone touch users are left in the dust. Again.

Too bad i didn't buy one /sarcasm

[David @ Jun 10th 2009 6:13AM]

Hey 3G owners: Get used to it!

I am a 2G iPhone user, and I was already getting "diminished" App capabilities. It's only going to be much worse now! Now, many won't even work at all!

Oh well, at least I skipped ONE upgrade step-up.